Wednesday 18 April 2012: Kea, New Zealand Mountain Parrot

5 Kea's joined us for lunch today. 3 hours straight up and we were tucked in behind rocks just below the summit, out of the wind and basking in the sun. Lunch tasted good!

You have to be careful with Keas, they're cheeky and highly intelligent. Before you know it they'll have whipped something away from you and it will be gone.

Most handsome large

We've had an absolutely fabulous day. By the time we reached the bush line the cloud and fog above us burned off. A cool breeze at times but it lessened during the day.

We traversed along a mostly straightforward ridge for an hour before descending hundreds of metres down a steep scree slope into the Crow Valley. I like running scree but this one isn't forgiving with rocks and stones of differing sizes and patches of concrete hard surface with a few loose stones and grit on top. It took the best part of an hour to reach the bottom. The Crow Glacier hanging from the head of the valley makes it absolutely worth while.

The hut is another 3/4 hour down stream. On this occasion it's full with the 10 mattresses on 2 long platforms already holding 12 people. I could sleep on the floor on my sleeping mat but outside is more appealing.

Why? Less people, less noise and it certainly won't be stuffy!

I'll let you know ;-)

• X10:
• f/2.8:
• 1/1000":
• 28.4mm:
• ISO 200

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